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Panel hears bill to regulate crypto ATMs; law enforcement and consumer groups cite scams, operators warn caps could force exits
Summary
The House Financial Institutions Committee heard testimony on HB 11‑16 to regulate virtual‑currency kiosks (crypto ATMs), with law enforcement and AARP urging licensing, transaction limits, refunds and disclosures to curb scams and protect older adults; kiosk operators said some limits (daily $1,000 cap, 3% fee cap) could hamper compliance and reporting.
The House Financial Institutions Committee on Thursday heard wide testimony on House Bill 11‑16, a proposal to bring virtual‑currency kiosks — commonly called crypto ATMs — under state licensing and consumer‑protection rules.
Representative McNamara, the bill’s author, told the committee the measure would require kiosk operators to be licensed as money transmitters, put the machines under oversight of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions, mandate identity verification and disclosures, impose transaction limits and fee caps, and create quarterly and annual reporting requirements.
The bill “is about strengthening consumer protection that are related to virtual currency kiosks,” McNamara said, and aims to “establish clear oversight, licensing, and enforcement standards in Indiana that don't currently exist.”
Detective Sergeant Nathan Van Cleave of the Evansville Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit described the problem in local terms. “We are currently living in a scam demic,” Van Cleave said, recounting that his office’s Bitcoin‑ATM cases rose from four about…
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